New Beginnings
by DefiantFreedom
Summary: When Regina adopted Henry 12 years ago, she never expected to have another child in her house. Then a phone call arrives, and Ashley follows after; a nervous, shy girl with a shadowed past, drawing Regina into the mystery that surrounds her, even as a new threat arrives in Storybrooke. Set after Season 3, without Marian or Elsa.
1. Prologue

**I've always wanted to read a fic where Regina adopts another child, so I wrote one. Well, the beginning of one. I might continue it if enough ideas hit me. Don't expect regular updates. I also have only a vague idea of how the foster system works, so please tell me if I get something wrong. OUAT paints the foster system in a very negative light, but I have no idea if that's the truth or not. Thanks :) The rating is T because I'm paranoid, and a few mentions of child abuse.  
**

* * *

Regina sat down in her office, sighed at the amount of paper and folders on her desk, and stopped. She picked up a note left on her desk, and smiled.

_Lunch at Granny's?_

_ -RH_

She shook her head. When she had found out that Robin Hood was her 'true love' she hadn't expected for everything to be so perfect between them. She hadn't expected to be able to move on from Daniel, after all, and she'd run away from her first chance with Robin, and villains don't get second chances. Of course, if you listened to Henry then she wasn't that much of a villain any more, even if no one really trusted her. Even Rumpelstiltskin was trusted more than she was, although, to be fair, he was known for keeping his deals and he had promised Belle that he would change.

Regina snorted. There was another unlikely love for you. She'd thought that he could never fall in love, or be loved, but he'd demonstrated what lengths he was willing to go to to keep Belle safe, and if that didn't prove his love then what did? Maybe 'the Saviour' had brought back the happy endings after all.

She was jerked from her thoughts as the phone rang. "If this is the Sheriff office again," she muttered threateningly, picking it up. "Hello, Mayor's office."

"Mayor Mills? This is the Boston adoption agency."

* * *

Robin looked at the clock again, slouching down in his seat. It wasn't like Regina to be late, but it was almost ten past twelve and she still hadn't shown up. _Don't be silly, _he chided himself. _She's Mayor. She has a lot of work to do. She might not even be coming. _

He didn't know what it was about Regina, but every time he arranged to meet her he felt nervous and unsure of himself. Once she was there he was his usual, confident self, but beforehand he was a nervous wreck, desperate for everything to be perfect for her.

He looked up as she sat down in the seat opposite him, flashing him a smile. "Hi, sorry I'm late, I got a surprising phone call."

"The Sheriff found someone who can actually drive a car?" Since the second curse, a lot of fairytale characters that hadn't been in Storybrooke the first time were experimenting with technology, often with disastrous results. Regina and Emma had been putting out metaphorical fires for weeks, and a couple of real ones.

"No, not that." She sighed. "I got a phone call from Boston."

"Boston?" He'd heard of it – it was where Emma Swan had lived when Henry found her, but he couldn't see why someone from there would call Regina. She nodded.

"The adoption agency."

"Henry?" he asked, reaching for her hand. She smiled and shook her head.

"No, thank goodness." She paused for a moment, glancing down in a way that he knew meant that she was nervous. "They want me to foster a girl."

He raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting that. "They assured me that it was a temporary placement," she continued, "but she needs a good home that is somewhere quiet; in a small town, not a big city."

"Why?" Robin asked. Surely a good home was all she would need. Regina sighed.

"Because the last home that she was in wasn't very good and they want to make her feel comfortable in her new home. She grew up in a town like this one, so..." She smiled and shrugged.

"I thought that any strangers was a bad idea," Robin said carefully; he knew Regina had a soft spot for children. Regina nodded.

"I know. I told them that I'd think about it." She shook her head and smiled brightly at him. "So, how's Roland?"

Robin wasn't fooled – he knew that this was far from over.

* * *

Ashley lent against the wall of her bedroom, staring blankly at the wall. She'd only recently been released from hospital after the car crash that had killed her foster father. The police had finally busted him on his drug dealing and he'd tried to make an escape, never mind that he was already drugged and inebriated.

He'd been driving on the wrong side of the road, late at night. Ashley, sitting in the passenger seat, had noticed the approaching car sooner than he had and had tried to turn the wheel. He'd hit her and knocked her back, and turned to yell at her, and they'd been hit. The only reason Ashley survived was because he'd yanked at the wheel when he turned, and the other car crashed into his side.

Once she'd woken up in hospital, the first question she'd asked, aside from 'where am I?' and 'how did I get here?' was 'do I have to go back?'. They'd told her that her foster father had died a few hours before she woke up and that she was going back to a group home. She'd cried, not out of grief, but relief.

Once she'd recovered a bit, the police had come in. Turned out that they'd suspected him for a while – his wife had sued for divorce on the grounds of domestic abuse and misuse of alcohol. Her social worker had been furious that they'd left her there and had shouted them out of the room. It was almost enough to make her smile, except she hadn't smiled in months.

Her social worker, Jean Fletcher, had told her that she wouldn't be staying here for very long – they were going to find her a good foster home this time. Jean had even speculated wistfully about adoption, but Ashley knew better than to hope for that. It was the little kids that got adopted, not the teenagers, but she knew that Jean felt guilty for the situation she'd been in, so she didn't want to point out how unrealistic her hopes were. In all likelihood, her next foster home would be just as bad as her previous homes.

There was no point getting her hopes up – foster kids didn't get happy endings.


	2. New Homes

**As I said before, I have no idea how the foster system works, so please feel free to correct me. Also this is my first OUAT fanfic, so if any character is OOC please let me know. Just a note, I am English. Therefore I use the letters 'u' and 'ph'. If I have actually made a mistake with my spelling then please let me know. Thank you :)**

* * *

Ashley sighed and looked out of the car window. Jean had described her new foster home as 'a small, quiet, out of the way town called Storybrooke'. Ashley snorted. Out of the way was right – she hadn't seen another car for the last twenty miles, about when Jean had given up on making conversation and had just turned the radio on instead.

Ashley fiddled nervously with the strap of her rucksack. Going to a new foster home was one thing she absolutely hated. It wasn't the dread or the fear, or even the nervousness making the waiting so much harder. It was the hope.

When she was little, Ashley had believed in happy endings. She'd believed that good always won and that everything was all right in the end.

She used to dream of a foster family that would adopt her – a loving mother who'd teach her how to cook and pin her drawings to the fridge, a strong father who'd pick her up when she was hurt and tell her not to listen to the bullies because he loved her, and maybe a younger brother or sister who'd absolutely adore her and play with her and defend her against everyone.

Then she grew up. Her sketchpad was shoved to the bottom of her bag and her pictures were never shown to anyone, and she had to learn to cook because her foster parents were never home when she got in from school, and she had to pick herself up when she was hurt because no one else cared.

Despite Jean's hopeful wishes, Ashley knew that her new foster home was very unlikely to be any different.

* * *

Regina shook her head at the absolute chaos that was Snow and Charming's flat. David and Henry were sprawled in front of the TV, playing a strange video game, Emma was looking through paperwork from the Sheriff office and Snow was trying to make a hot chocolate while rocking baby Neal.

Emma was the first to notice her there. "Oh, hi, Regina. I was going to send Henry over later in the day, but–"

"You got involved with all of the paperwork you haven't done," Regina finished dryly. She shook her head. "Actually I came to say that maybe Henry should stay here for a while longer." That was strange enough to tear Henry away from his video game and distract Emma from her work.

"Why?" David asked. "I thought that was what you two agreed – a week each." Regina sighed.

"It's complicated," she admitted.

"Sit down," Snow said. "I'll get some tea. Henry, can you hold Neal?"

"I got a call from the Boston adoption agency," she said.

Emma stood, reaching for Henry and holding him to her. "They want him back?" she asked, aghast. Snow and David reacted almost as quickly. David reached for his sword and Snow put a reassuring hand on Emma's shoulder. "We won't let that happen," she said firmly.

"No, it wasn't that," Regina said, hurriedly, trying to stop the war which she knew would happen if anyone tried to take Henry away now. "They wanted to know if I could foster a girl for a while."

"You're adopting someone else?" Henry asked slowly.

"No, no," Regina assured him. "It's just a temporary placement while they can sort out a permanent home for her. I just think that it would be better for you to stay here tonight so she can settle in."

Snow raised an eyebrow. _Temporary? _If the woman in front of her had still been Mayor Mills, she would have doubted that the girl would stay for even a week, but the woman who had given up everything for Henry? The woman who had rescued a stranger's son from danger? Somehow Snow doubted that this placement would be at all temporary.

* * *

Ashley stared at the huge house, her heart sinking. No one that rich would want her around. She'd be ignored and forgotten for however long she was staying, at best. Worst didn't bear thinking about. Or, if they were 'nice' then they'd enrol her in the nearest school and make sure that she actually attended, pushing her to become the best.

Ashley had been with a family like that once. She could still recite her times tables perfectly.

Gloomily preparing herself for the worst case scenario, she grabbed her rucksack and followed Jean to the house, towing her suitcase. Jean had stopped chattering enthusiastically, maybe sensing that it wasn't working, and instead gave her an encouraging smile and rung the doorbell.

Ashley took a deep breath, clutching her suitcase tightly. Time to meet her new foster family.

* * *

Regina paced anxiously, glancing at the clock on the wall ever so often. "Where are they?" she muttered. "They were supposed to be here at six-thirty." She glanced at the clock again. Six-thirty-three. She took a deep breath and stopped pacing, raising her hands to her head and rubbing her temples to try and ward off a headache that had been threatening all evening. "Okay," she said. "You're overreacting. They're three minutes late. I should have expected that they'd be late. This is quite a way from Boston, after all. Three minutes is not a reason to panic."

The doorbell rung. Regina looked up and strode down the hall, suddenly nervous now that the moment was here. She took another deep breath to try and settle her nerves and then opened the door. _Time to meet my new foster daughter. _

The first person that she saw when she opened the door was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, with short brown hair and a wide, friendly smile. As soon as she saw Regina she held out her hand. "You must be Miss Mills," she said. "I'm Jean Fletcher, Ashley's social worker." She gestured behind her as she spoke, and Regina caught her first glimpse of the girl that was to be staying with her.

Ashley was about the same height as Henry, even though she was a year older. She had curly, dark brown hair and light blue eyes that watched Regina warily. She was dressed in a baggy hoodie and jeans, and she was painfully thin. Regina felt her heart constrict at the watchful look on the girl's face and the death-grip that she held her suitcase with.

Regina smiled at the both of them. "Please come in."

* * *

Ashley discreetly studied her new foster mother. She seemed very nice, but Ashley had learned long ago that everyone was nice to the adults that left her there. She would have to wait until Jean left for Miss Mills' mask to fall.

Miss Mills lead the way up the stairs, stopping when they got to the top. "This is my room," she told Ashley, "and that is my son's room. He's with his mother at the minute." Ashley frowned.

"What?" Miss Mills smiled.

"I adopted him twelve years ago," she explained. "Two years ago he found his birth mother."

"That must have been very hard for you," Jean said.

"It was at first," she admitted with a laugh, "but we're more or less friends now. Arguing over him was just hurting Henry more than anyone else."

Ashley had no doubt that Miss Mills' tear-jerking story was solely for Jean's benefit. She didn't believe a word of it. Any mother who gave their child up for adoption had to have a very good reason for it – and she had to believe that – and wouldn't want their son back in their life. Maybe for a 'hello' or two, but on a permanent basis? No way.

Miss Mills smiled at her, and opened a third door. "And this will be your room, Ashley." Giving her a suspicious look, Ashley looked in the room. After a few steps she froze. It was huge. The bed was in the middle, neatly made with about three pillows and a quilt. To the left of the bed was a small table with a lamp on it and further left was a window. Directly opposite the bed was a wardrobe and to the right of the bed was, of all things, a bookcase.

Jean, seeing that Ashley was momentarily stunned, took the initiative. "Well, I'll leave you to settle in, Ashley. I can see you're going to be comfortable here." She smiled at Miss Mills and made her way back downstairs.

"I'll call when dinner's ready," Miss Mills said, hesitantly. Now that Jean had gone she seemed much more nervous. Ashley nodded, and after giving her a last look Miss Mills followed Jean down the stairs.

Ashley put her suitcase down gently and sat on her bed. "This has got to be a dream," she muttered under her breath, looking around what was apparently now her room.


	3. Nightmares

**Thank you to everyone who had reviewed this; knowing that someone likes what I'm writing makes my day. To everyone else, please leave a review and let me know if you like what I'm writing. Thank you :)  
**

* * *

_Regina smiled at Daniel. "I love you," she whispered._

"_I love you too," he whispered back, bending down to kiss her._

_Their lips touched for only a moment before Daniel cried out in pain and collapsed. Regina fell to her knees beside him, pulling him into her lap. "Daniel!" she cried. "Daniel!"_

"_I'm afraid that won't work, my dear." Regina looked up and saw her mother calmly standing before her, holding Daniel's heart in her hand._

"_Let him go!" Regina pleaded. "Please, give Daniel back his heart."_

"_Why should I?" her mother asked._

"_I love him, mother. Please..." Cora laughed._

"_Love, Regina? Let me tell you something about love." She leaned closer. _

"_Love is weakness." And she crushed his heart. Regina screamed, but her mother just shook her head. "You should thank me," she said. "Falling in love with a thief." She snorted and shook her head._

"_A thief?" Regina asked, confused. "Daniel isn't..." She looked down and gasped._

_Staring sightlessly up at her was Robin Hood. _

"_Daddy?" Regina spun around to see Roland. He looked up at her, his eyes trusting. "Have you see my Daddy?" he asked. Regina stood, reaching out for him._

"_Roland," she said, between sobs, "I am so, so sorry." His face twisted into hatred._

"_No!" he cried pushing her away._

"_Roland!" she called, except now he was Henry, looking far older than just twelve._

"_I was wrong," he said. "You're no hero. You'll always be the Evil Queen."_

Regina woke with a gasp, shivering in the cold night air. At some point during her nightmare she'd thrown the covers off and they'd fallen off the edge of her bed. She slowly sat up, running a hand through her hair.

Nightmares weren't new for her; she'd suffered from them for as long as she could remember. At first they had been of Daniel's death and her captivity under her mother's rule, and then they had been of using magic against her mother, and liking it. As 'the Evil Queen' she had still suffered from those nightmares, but not as frequently, and she often forgot them once she awoke. When Emma Swan came to town she'd had many nightmares of losing Henry, but he'd shown that he still wanted her to be his mother, even though he had a much better family with the Charmings, and somehow because of that she'd managed to become part of their family as well.

What really scared her about this was Robin. His death was a prospect that continually haunted her, enough that it had started to invade her dreams. Robin had come to mean so much to her in so little time. If anything was to happen to him, or to Henry...

She was halfway down the corridor to check on Henry before she remembered that he wasn't actually there. She sighed and leant against the nearest wall. Instead of Henry she had a strange child in her house, a child who was probably damaged by her past beyond what Regina could help her with.

She sighed again. What had she been thinking when she'd agreed to this? Dinner had been full of awkward, stilted conversation, with Ashley constantly calling her 'Miss Mills' no matter how many times she said to call her Regina, especially after the discovery that they had almost nothing in common.

Well, to be fair, she was just saying that. In truth, Ashley had practically refused to speak to her at all, except from answering questions, and even then her answers were mostly 'maybe', 'I don't know' and 'I guess so'.

Regina glanced over at Ashley's door, wondering what she was dreaming of.

* * *

_Ashley was walking down a long corridor. It looked like Miss Mills' house, but she'd never seen it before. She just had a strange sense that she knew it. _

_It seemed endless. She almost stopped and gave up, but it felt as though something was urging her on. She stumbled forwards, feeling as though she was carrying something impossibly heavy. She focused on the carpet and took one slow step forwards at a time._

_Abruptly she came to the end of the corridor. There was nothing in front of her, just a huge cliff. She stood there for a moment, wondering where she was supposed to go next. She turned to look back down the corridor and saw a huge wave of inky darkness coming towards her. She stepped back involuntarily and stepped off the edge of the cliff._

_For a handful of heartbeats she slowly tipped backwards, frantically windmilling her arms in an attempt to keep her balance, but it was all in vain._

_She tumbled off the cliff and fell into the abyss. She tried to scream, but it got caught in her throat, her rising panic cutting it off._

Ashley was vaguely aware that she'd woken up. She was in her new room, clutching at the sheets, trying valiantly to fight the panic clawing at her. _It's not real! _She screamed in her mind. _It's not real! _She fought for air, taking gasping breaths as she tried to breathe through the panic. Her heart was thudding in her chest as though she was running and she clenched her hands tightly to stop them from trembling as the overriding panic threatened to engulf her.

"Ashley!" Then Regina was beside her, genuine concern in her eyes. Ashley tried to reply, but couldn't find enough air. Regina sat next to her on the bed and gingerly put her arms around her, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort.

* * *

Regina didn't know how long it was before Ashley was breathing normally again. She felt useless, just sitting next to her and trying to comfort her. She was just glad that she had decided to check on Ashley and make sure that she was comfortable in a new room.

Eventually Ashley could breathe again, slowly taking deeper and deeper breaths, which turned into sobs. Regina just held her close and let her cry, resolving to speak to someone in the morning. The tears stopped soon enough and Ashley stiffened in her arms, apparently noticing where she was. Regina reluctantly released her.

"Are you all right?" she asked gently. Ashley nodded. "What happened?" Regina asked. She hated to push Ashley for answers when she was clearly unwilling to talk, but seeing Ashley choking on her own panic had scared her beyond belief and she needed to know what had happened if she was to help her.

"Panic attack," Ashley mumbled.

"A panic attack?" Regina repeated. Ashley nodded. "What caused it?" Ashley shrugged.

"Nightmare," she muttered, her voice barely audible. Regina felt a surge of empathy for her. Her own mother had deemed nightmares as weakness and had scolded Regina for being so afraid of the dark. _How many nightmares did I suffer through on my own? _She wondered. _Too many. I can't – I _won't_ – allow that to happen to Ashley._

"I see," Regina said, standing and walking over to the chest of drawers. "I used to have nightmares as a child," she said, finding a candle. "My mother didn't want to know about them, so I found my own way to cope." She opened one of the drawers and found the matches. Smiling in triumph she turned back to Ashley and put the candle on the table next to her bed. She lit the candle and put the matches next to it. Ashley looked at her in confusion.

"I would light a candle," Regina said. "And I would watch it while I was trying to get to sleep, and I would tell myself that I shouldn't be afraid of the dark because it couldn't even put a candle out." Regina smiled at her and made her way to the door. "Good night, Ashley. Sweet dreams."

For the first time, Ashley ventured a small smile in her direction. "Good night, Miss Mi– Regina."


	4. Once Upon A Hot Chocolate With Cinnamon

**Sorry, I know I haven't updated in a while, but I had a load of trouble writing this one for some reason. (shrugs) Oh, and I have a truckload of homework to do. (Four pieces of homework for tomorrow, _four!) _Let me know what you think?**

* * *

When Ashley awoke, the candle was still burning. She watched it for a while, as the flame flickered. She sat up and blew it out. _So, _she thought, _that wasn't a dream._

She got showered, dressed and brushed her teeth feeling off-balance. She made her bed and quietly walked downstairs. She poked her head around the kitchen door and saw Regina cooking. She quickly drew back. _Okay, _she thought, _just pretend that last night didn't happen. It was probably just a moment of weakness. I reminded her too much of her childhood. She'll want to pretend that it didn't happen too, so I'll just act like I've forgotten all about it. It's not like I'm bad at pretending. _

Ashley took a deep breath and walked hesitantly into the kitchen. Regina turned round and smiled. "Good morning," she said. "I hope pancakes are all right?" Ashley nodded and sat down at the table. She clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling, and waited for the usual half-hour lecture on rules and regulations that she got at every new foster home. Instead she got a plate piled high with pancakes and covered in syrup and chocolate sauce and a hot chocolate.

Regina interpreted her silence wrongly. "I hope you like hot chocolate," she said anxiously. "My son loves it and I'm just so used to making it for him."

"Hot chocolate's fine," Ashley assured her. Regina didn't seem convinced, so Ashley offered her a small smile and took a sip. Her eyes widened and she looked down at it critically. "Cinnamon?" she asked. Regina nodded and smiled back at her.

"It's a family thing."

* * *

Almost as soon as the finished breakfast there was a thundering knocking on the door. Regina answered it, and Ashley could hear her scolding whoever it was. When she came back into the kitchen she had a boy with her. He beamed at her. "Hi, I'm Henry. You must be Ashley." He sat next to her and dumped his rucksack on the table. "I thought we could play video games."

When Henry found out that Ashley had never played a video game and hadn't ever heard of Mario Kart, he decided to spend the rest of the day educating her. "No, not that button, the other one... you turn the wheel, just like driving a car... don't hit that!" Eventually Regina told them that they'd spent enough time in front of the TV and told Henry to show Ashley Storybrooke.

* * *

"And that's the clock tower. It never used to work, but it's fixed now and Belle opened the library." He grinned nervously at her. "There's not much here, like New York or anything."

"You've been to New York?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, last year. I visited with my mum, Emma, and met my dad."

"That must have been great," Ashley said, wistfully.

"It was pretty cool, yeah." They walked on in silence for a few moments. "Wait, I have a great idea. Come on!"

"Henry, wait!" Ashley said, feeling panicky as he dragged her down the road without a word of explanation. "Where are we going?"

"Come on," he urged. "It's not far away."

He turned the corner into an apartment building and pulled her up the stairs, before stopping in front of the door and fiddling in his pockets for the keys. Ashley felt her heart speed up until it felt like it was beating at a hundred miles an hour. She knew where she was; how could she not? This was where his other mum, Emma, lived. She tried to take deep breaths. _Calm down. She'll probably be really nice and offer to let you stay or play video games or something._

"Got it!" Henry said triumphantly. He burst through the door and darted up the stairs and, by the sounds of it, started rearranging the furniture. Ashley stood awkwardly just inside the doorway, watching the surprised brunette standing behind the kitchen counter and holding a baby out of the corner of her eye. Another woman, blonde, was sat a table strewn with paperwork. She stood up and followed Henry up the stairs. "Henry? What are you doing up here?"

There was an awkward silence in the kitchen for a moment, filled with Ashley surreptitiously trying to watch the other woman. After a moment she laughed and shook her head. "You must be Ashley," she said, smiling. Ashley nodded, hesitantly. "Well, I'm Mary Margaret, a... friend of Emma's, and this is Neal." Almost as though he recognised his name, the baby giggled and waved his hands about. Mary Margaret smiled down at him and Ashley felt her heart tear in half.

She felt so glad for baby Neal. He was going to have a loving mother and father and a lovely home in a quiet town; everything she had never had.

Mary Margaret smiled at Ashley. "Why don't you come and sit down..." She paused a moment. "David!" she called. There was a clatter from somewhere to the left and Ashley looked around sharply, just in time to see someone dash out of the bathroom and hover over Mary Margaret. "Are you all right?" he asked her frantically. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she said, kissing him on he cheek. "I just need you to hold Neal for a moment while I make Ashley something to drink." He sighed in relief.

"Sn – Mary Margaret. I thought something was wrong." She gave him a look.

"Something is wrong, David, and that is that my bathroom door has been kicked down and you still can't get it to work properly." He held up his hands.

"I don't get why I have to fix it anyway. It was your dau – friend that kicked it down in the first place."

"She's the Sheriff," Mary Margaret replied, handing him the baby. "She's supposed to kick down doors. You're the husband. You're supposed to fix them." She turned to Ashley, ignoring David's wounded look. "Hot chocolate?" she asked.

Ashley nodded, almost lost in the feel of comfort that seemed to wrap around the entire flat. It was strange enough that she almost didn't notice the way that David was clearly trying not to say something around her, but Ashley was very adept at noticing when someone was trying to hide something from her – it was a skill that had kept her safe more than once. So she was watching them very carefully when she saw Mary Margaret tip cinnamon into her hot chocolate.

"Cinnamon?" she asked, the question startled out of her. Mary Margaret turned to her in surprise, holding the hot chocolate in one hand, although whether that was because she'd finally spoken or because she'd mentioned the cinnamon, Ashley didn't know. She nodded.

"Sorry, I didn't think to ask; I just tipped it in. It's a family thing." Ashley smiled. It was strange, the way this town kept drawing them out of her.

"That's what Regina said." Mary Margaret and David shared a smile.

"Well, I guess we are family, now. She's Henry's adopted mother, after all." Mary Margaret placed the mug of hot chocolate in front of Ashley just as Henry bounded down the stairs again, a huge red book tucked under one arm, and Emma trailing after him.

When he reached the table he swept off his mother's paperwork – causing her to dive to the floor after them, with a cry of "Henry!" - and put the book down in front of Ashley. He grinned expectantly up at her.

She looked down at the cover of the book.

"Once Upon A Time."


	5. Happy endings

**I know I haven't updates for a while - I have loads of homework. Plus a terrible cold that seems to be going around at the moment. (Don't you just love winter?) Sorry this is really short. Please review :)**

* * *

Ashley sat silently at the dinner table, eating her lasagne and thinking of the book upstairs in her room. She couldn't understand why Henry had wanted her to have it so badly. It was just a book of fairytales. Even the title sounded pretentious – 'Once Upon A Time'. And there was probably a happy ending. She didn't like happy endings. She would sit and look at the last couple of lines, feeling so hopeful for her future, and then she'd be let down again. Happy endings just didn't happen, because life didn't end. It went on. And life is never happy for very long.

"Apparently Henry took you to see the Charmings." Ashley frowned.

"Charmings?" Regina smiled.

"It's my nickname for them. When Sn – Mary Margaret and David first met, it wasn't on the best of terms. She called him 'Charming', sarcastically, and the name stuck."

Ashley nodded. That was the second time that someone had stumbled over Mary Margaret's name. She wondered if she had changed it, or if they were referring to a nickname she had had. She ate a few more mouthfuls of lasagne, and then realised that Regina was waiting for her to say something.

"She makes hot chocolate the same way you do." Regina raised an eyebrow.

"With cinnamon?" Ashley nodded.

"Apparently it's a family thing," she said, daring a small smile. It felt strange, to smile at almost nothing, at someone who she barely knew, but when Regina smiled back – as she did now – it filled Ashley with a warm, cosy feeling, that somehow made her want to cry and laugh at the same time.

* * *

Ashley turned the pages of Henry's book. As she'd though, it was a fairytale, but it was more complicated than that. It seemed to be all of the fairytales, woven together, and they weren't told in the traditional sense, either. Who knew Snow White was a bandit? Ashley smiled. She liked this version of the fairytales.

Regina, walking up the stairs, noticed that Ashley's light was still on and shook her head, sighing. She gently tapped on the door and pushed it open after a few seconds. "It's ten o'clock, Ashley," she began, but froze when she saw what book Ashley was reading. "Where did you get that?" she asked. She tried to keep her tone light and conversational, but clearly something gave her away.

Ashley looked up, her eyes suddenly wary. "Henry gave it to me," she answered. Regina nodded.

"Of course he did," she muttered. Why would he give her that, unless... No, he wouldn't. There was no reason for Henry to want Ashley to believe in fairytales. She shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her mind. She smiled at Ashley. "Sorry, it's just, it was his favourite book a few years ago, and he took it to read to Neal." _A very shortened version of events, _she thought ruefully. "I just never thought I'd see it again."

Ashley looked down at the book. She hadn't thought that it would mean so much to Regina. She'd looked so shocked when she'd seen it. She wondered why Henry had given it to her. When she had asked why he'd given it to her, stuttering a bit, he'd just smiled and said that the hope of a happy ending was important. Looking at Regina, she wondered who he'd wanted the happy ending for.

Regina sat next to her. "Where are you?" she asked. Ashley silently turned the page so Regina could see it. "Oh. The Evil Queen."

"Not yet," Ashley corrected, touching the page. "At the moment she's just Regina." The fact that the Evil Queen and her foster mother shared a name had surprised her, but it seemed to suit them, and the Evil Queen wasn't really the Evil Queen yet, like she'd said. "It's so sad," she said quietly.

"I know," Regina said. "The book doesn't give her a happy ending. It doesn't see her as anything but a villain." Ashley frowned, puzzled.

"Don't villains get happy endings?" she asked. Regina stood, abruptly, and Ashley tensed, wondering what she'd said.

"I like to think that she would get a happy ending, in the end." Ashley sighed.

"No one really ever gets a happy ending," she said mournfully. "Not in real life." Regina smiled.

"You never know," she said. "Maybe you just haven't found yours yet."

* * *

Regina paced, running her hands through her hair. Why would Henry give her the book? She froze as another thought hit her.

It was happening all over again, which meant that she should be asking a far more potent question.

_What if she realises that I'm the Evil Queen?_

Regina sank down into a chair. She couldn't do this. Not again. It had broken her heart enough the first time. She couldn't go through that again.

But she couldn't exactly just take the book away, could she?

Regina sighed and leant back against the chair. "Face it, Regina," she muttered. "You're just not cut out to be a mother."

_You're just not good enough._

* * *

Ashley turned over in bed, and eyed the book sitting on her bedside table. She itched to continue reading, but she didn't dare. She didn't want to test Regina's patience, and find out that she was like every other foster parent she had had – willing to make an effort as long as the child was obedient and easy to control, but giving up the second they acted wilful and stubborn. She knew plenty of kids who just acted that way constantly, rather than get their hopes up and find out that this foster home was going to be exactly like the last.

Ashley had never been able to do that. She thought back to what Henry had told her – "the hope of a happy ending is a powerful thing" – and realised that she had known that for her entire life, and that was why she refused to believe that she could ever have one.


	6. Magic?

**Sorry, I know I haven't updated in a while. I just couldn't seem to get the right words. Sorry it's so short as well.**

* * *

Ashley was eating breakfast – jam on toast – when Regina broke the news.

She was going to start school tomorrow.

The half-eaten piece of toast landed back on her plate.

"Tomorrow?" she asked, aghast. Regina frowned slightly at her reaction, but nodded.

"They want you to go in today and take a few tests so they can determine what classes to put you in." Ashley nodded, looking mournfully at her toast. Suddenly she wasn't all that hungry any more.

* * *

"Regina," Dr Hopper said in surprise. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"May I speak with you about Ashley?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yes, of course. Please come in." Regina sat down gingerly on the sofa, Dr Hopper taking the seat opposite her. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

While Regina recounted the tale of Ashley's panic attack, Dr Hopper listened attentively, nodding occasionally. When she finished she looked at him hopefully. "Well, I think I can put your mind at rest. A panic attack is not as serious as it may appear. I can't point to a cause at this moment in time, but bearing in mind her background, I think that it was probably caused by a childhood trauma, which she revisited in her nightmare."

"She implied that she had them often," Regina said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

"She is a foster child," Dr Hopper pointed out. "Since we don't know about her past, we don't know what caused it or what can trigger an attack."

"Trigger an attack?" He nodded.

"Panic attacks can hit right out of the blue, but they can also be triggered by a stressful event, especially if that event has caused a panic attack before."

"Is it serious?" Regina asked, trying to suppress her own panic.

"Well, most people only experience a few panic attacks in the course of their everyday life, but some people can develop panic disorder. That's when you suffer from frequent attacks."

Regina nodded, trying desperately to make sense of what Dr Hopper was saying. She had to pay attention to this; she didn't want Ashley to go through that again, especially alone. "What can I do?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"She is in the middle of a very stressful situation, transferring to a new foster home where she doesn't know anyone. It is probably only that which is causing her panic attacks. I would suggest waiting before deciding what, if anything, to do. In the meantime, try to talk to her, even if it is not about her nightmares or her panic attacks. Let her know that she can trust you. Her panic attacks may just be caused by the fact that she's in a new place. Make sure she knows that she's not alone."

* * *

Ashley stared at the page, tapping her pen against the table. How was she supposed to know how to solve an equation? Or who the king was at the beginning of the twentieth century? Or was it a queen? She sighed and resisted the urge to hit her head against the table. Her schooling hadn't exactly been consistent, especially not for the last two years, when she'd barely attended school at all.

She turned the page of the exam paper and was greeted with a number of questions about different languages. Staring helplessly at the page she wished that she was back at Regina's house, or better, that she'd never come to Storybrooke at all. She'd probably get put in a class with children much younger than her, knowing her luck, and get teased dreadfully.

She bit her lip and scrawled some nonsense down as an answer, wishing that she was cleverer, so she could stay with Regina, instead of getting sent back to a group home because she was too much trouble. Who wanted a foster kid that was going to fail school?

* * *

Ashley hadn't spoken for the entire time that they'd been in the car, nor when they got home. Regina could only assume that the test hadn't gone well, and guessed that this wasn't the time to start talking about nightmares. She leant against the kitchen counter and sighed. Who was she kidding? It would probably be much better if she just sent Ashley to live with the Charmings for a week. Then they'd probably adopt her, and she'd have the life that she always wanted.

A scream from upstairs shattered her thoughts. Before she even knew what was happening, she was outside the door to Ashley's room. She opened the door and barged in.

Ashley was pressed up against the far wall, her eyes wide with fear. On her bed lay Henry's story book.

Standing in the room with them was a very large, very angry troll.

Regina reacted on instinct. She waved her hand and froze the troll, before vanishing it.

She turned to Ashley, who was pale, shaking, and staring at her as though she'd grown another head.

"Ashley..." Regina began weakly.

Ashley shoved past her and ran down the stairs, the sounds of her sobs echoing back up to Regina. Regina was halfway down the stairs when she heard the front door slam.

As though the sound was a signal, she felt her heart break, and grabbed the banister to stop herself from falling. She felt tears prick her eyes, and let one sob escape, before angrily wiping her eyes and racing downstairs.

She grabbed her phone and dialled Emma's number.

She was not losing another child.


	7. Hero?

**I know I haven't updated this in a while, but I was thinking about what I wanted to do with this chapter. I'm still not entirely sure that it went where I wanted it to.**

* * *

Ashley crouched down behind a tree, in the middle of the woods. She didn't know how long she'd been running for – she just knew that she hadn't wanted to stop. Stopping would mean thinking about what Regina had done, with just a wave of her hand and what she had done, just by reading the book. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think that maybe Henry had a reason for giving her his story book.

She didn't want to think about Regina being more than just the mayor of Storybrooke.

She sat down on the forest floor, not caring that she would probably ruin her jeans, that awful moment replaying in her head.

She'd just been reading the book – that had been all! Just reading. And then she'd gotten to the part about Snow and Charming and the troll bridge, and for a moment it had been so startlingly real, as though it was a film inside her head.

And Snow White had Mary Margaret's face, but she didn't want to think about that either.

She'd closed the book, slightly scared, and looked up and then she'd seen the troll.

But she didn't want to think about that.

She didn't want to think about why Regina called Mary Margaret's family 'the Charmings' or why everyone had trouble remembering Mary Margaret's name. Or why nothing strange had ever happened before when she had read aloud. Or how Regina had got to her room so quickly.

She hugged her knees to her chest and tried not to cry.

Storybrooke could have been so perfect.

Why did Henry have to give her that book?

* * *

Ashley had never been very good at keeping track of time, so it could have been five hours, or five minutes, later when she heard footsteps approaching. She shot to her feet and spun around, to see a complete stranger smiling at her. A complete stranger who looked oddly familiar.

She had short brown hair, about Regina's length, and kind brown eyes. Her face was covered in freckles and she was giving Ashley a solemn look. She was dressed in tattered shorts and a T-shirt that was patched and worn. She had a locket around her neck and a bracelet around her wrist. She was slightly taller than Ashley and wasn't wearing any shoes.

Ashley knew she should be scared. She knew she should be running away as fast as her legs could carry her. For all she knew, this girl could be some sort of evil witch or sorceress, from one of the many fairytales that she was now desperately trying to remember.

Despite all of that, Ashley remained rooted to the spot. There was something so compelling about this stranger; the weirdest sense of déjà-vu, as though this girl was an old friend, or a big sister. As though she was someone that Ashley could not possibly be scared of.

The stranger smiled gently. "It's good to see you again, Ashley."

"Again? I have no idea who you are!" Although, her voice caused a memory to tug at the back of Ashley's mind, something she was almost remembering...

"Am I so easily forgotten?" The stranger grinned, and Ashley felt the penny drop. She knew that smile. She had seen that smile a hundred thousand times. A smile from someone who believed in her completely.

"Hero?"

* * *

"Are you even listening to me? Ashley has gone missing!" Regina followed Emma down the pavement, ignoring the Sheriff's exasperated sigh.

"Well, a troll appeared in front of her, conjured from Henry's story book, which you vanished. Can you blame her?"

"Why aren't you looking for her? She ran into the forest! Anything could happen to her!" Emma sighed, and stopped, finally turning to face Regina.

"As hard as it may be for you to believe, Madam Mayor, I have many more important things to worry about than a foster kid who's run off. She'll be back by nightfall."

"More important things? What is more important than a missing child?"

"For one thing, I'm worried about the effects of your sister's time portal, and what else her magic may be doing, and what I may have changed by travelling through time. So yes, a missing kid is low on my list of priorities right now." Emma turned away from her and continued down the street.

Regina sighed and threw her hands up in exasperation, muttering under her breath about how some people needed to straighten out their obviously-so-important priorities. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled Robin's number.

"Come on, come on, pick up," she muttered as it rang. "Oh, Robin...yes, it's about Ashley..."

* * *

"But..." Ashley shook her head. "You're not even real!" Hero shrugged.

"'Course I'm not. But I was to you, once. When you needed a friend, remember?" Ashley didn't reply. "Back when you were about nine or ten, and your foster parents were out, and you were locked in your room, and you were cold and scared and it was dark–"

"Stop it," Ashley muttered, shaking her head.

"– and you were just a kid. So you made me up, and called me Hero, because that's what I was to you. Then you drew a picture of me, and when your foster parents said I wasn't real you didn't believe them, and for a few days I was the most real person you had ever met."

"Hero, please, you're imaginary! I made you up! There's no way you could possibly be here!"

"Ashley." Hero smiled. "This is Storybrooke. This is where fairytales come true. This is the only place I could be real, because here is where your magic works."

Ashley shook her head, again. "I don't have magic." Hero raised an eyebrow.

"That troll in your bedroom said differently, as do I." Hero frowned. "Haven't you worked it out yet? That's how your magic works; when you believe something is real, it becomes real." Ashley stared at her. "So the troll..."

"You believed it was real. Just for a second – that's all your magic needs." Ashley shook her head.

"I can't have magic. It's never happened before."

"That's because you've never had enough magic before. You've never been in a place of magic." Hero sighed. "It's like this place is a battery. You've never been fully charged before, but you've been here for days, soaking up all that raw magic. Enough to make me and that troll real."

"Woah, woah, slow down. When did I make you real?" Hero shrugged.

"Just now. You needed a friend, and somewhere at the back of your mind, you thought of me." Ashley looked at her hands in shock.

"I can make anything real? What if I believe if a dinosaur-sized, man-eating, magic-impervious, poisonous spider is real?" Her voice rose steadily, until it reached an almost hysterical note. Hero sighed, as though she was involved in a perfectly real discussion, with someone who was real.

"You have to really believe it, Ashley, like you did when you were a kid. Do you believe in such a spider? Because if you do, then we're in trouble." And Hero grinned, again. Ashley stared at her.

_This is not real, please say this is not real. This is not real. This can't be real. Please say this isn't real. _Ashley stared at Hero helplessly. _I'm going mad, _she realized. _I'm actually going mad._

Hero frowned, and tilted her head. "Robin's coming," she said.

"Who?" Ashley asked, not paying any attention.

"Oh, you know, Regina's boyfriend." That caught her attention.

"Her what?" Hero grinned and didn't answer.

Robin came around the corner and spotted her. "Yeah, Regina, I've found her...Okay, I'll tell her...Of course...Yes, see you in a minute." he hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. He gave Ashley a sympathetic look. "Heard you found out about it all the hard way." He held out a hand. "Come on, let's get you home. Regina's worried."


	8. Realisations

**So, this is kind of a filler chapter, which is why it took a while to write, but I think it does establish some important stuff about Ashley and Regina. Enjoy! And hopefully review!**

* * *

Ashley sat gingerly on the sofa in Regina's living room, trying to ignore the fear that was tying her insides into knots. She clasped her hands together tightly to stop them trembling and forced herself to take deep, slow breaths.

She knew she was in trouble now. Oh, Regina might have acted nice to begin with, but now that she was running away? Now that she had discovered Storybrooke's big secret, assuming that Hero was real and she wasn't just going mad? Now Regina would be angry and annoyed that Ashley had run away, no doubt thinking that it reflected badly on her as a mother. Ashley bit her lip.

She glanced out of the window. There was only darkness outside. She shuddered and turned her attention back to Hero.

Robin hadn't noticed Hero, the whole way back to Regina's house, even though she'd been commenting on Storybrooke's various good points. Regina hadn't noticed her either, not that she'd had much time to.

When she'd seen Robin and Ashley coming down the path she'd run out of the house and hugged her, before anxiously asking if she was okay. Experience told Ashley that it was an act she put on before Robin, and that she was going to be in big trouble now, but a deeper instinct was telling her to hope for her very own happy ending, for once in her life.

Hero took down one of the pictures that had been on the mantelpiece. "Henry," she noted. She put it back and looked at the other one. "Henry again." Pause. "Henry and Roland eating ice cream." She looked around the room. "Nothing about her parents. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"You've clearly never read the book," Ashley muttered. "Her mother was...not the best," she hedged, well aware that Regina probably wouldn't want her insulting her mother, however justified the insult might be.

"And yours was?" Hero asked. Ashley didn't reply. "Giving you up for adoption before you were even one day old?"

"Remind me why I'm your friend." Hero shrugged.

"I'm saying nothing you've never thought. Besides, I've never had a friend before either, so I'll need some practice, but I'm only trying to help."

"By reminding me of the fact that my mother didn't care about me? That she'd rather I was in foster care than with her?" Ashley demanded, surprised by the bitterness in her voice.

"No. By trying to get through your thick skull that Regina is pretty similar to you." Hero shrugged. "You really have a chance here, you know." She sighed and sat down next to Ashley. "I just wish that I could have been there before. I'd have given your last foster father a piece of my mind."

"No one can see or hear you, Hero."

"I still could have done something. Like impersonate a poltergeist." Ashley looked at her.

"You really feel guilty about that, don't you?" Hero nodded. "Why?" Ashley asked, a confused frown on her face. "There is nothing you can do to change it, and you weren't even there, as far as I know." Hero gave her a strange, sad look.

"Do you really not know why?" Ashley began to answer, but hesitated. She thought that she knew – it was hovering at the back of her mind, more of a feeling than a thought. "Because you're my friend?" she hazarded.

"That has something to do with it," Hero agreed, "but it's more what that signifies." Ashley shook her head.

"No, you've lost me." Hero turned away.

"And that's an example of why you need to make an effort here. You don't even know why a friend would try and help you."

Regina came in with two mugs of hot chocolate, stopping their conversation and leaving Ashley to ponder what Hero had meant by that last statement. Wasn't helping your friends what a friend did? Wasn't that why they were your friends? Because they helped you? It didn't seem to make any sense.

Ashley took the hot chocolate from Regina and carefully sipped it. Hero raised an eyebrow. "Well thank you very much," she muttered. "I do so love hot chocolate, Mayor Mills, it was so kind of you to make some for me." Ashley couldn't stop a smile. Hero glanced at her and smiled encouragingly. Ashley took a deep breath.

"Regina," she began, "I'm really sorry–" Regina held up her hand.

"If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I should have explained to you about Storybrooke before." Ashley frowned.

"I wouldn't have believed you." Regina sighed.

"I know. I still feel that I should have done something." She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. I suppose you've worked it all out by now?"

"Most of it," Ashley replied, tracing a pattern on the carpet in an attempt to avoid Regina's eyes. "You're all characters from fairytales, that ended up here because you cast the curse, but the stories aren't the traditional kind." Regina nodded and tapped her fingers on her mug.

"Well, now you have worked that out, I'm sure you'd be much happier with the Charmings–"

"What?" Ashley interrupted, frowning, and trying to cover up how much it hurt that Regina didn't want her there now she knew the truth.

"I'm the Evil Queen, remember?" Regina explained. "I doubt you'd want to stay here." Ashley shrugged.

"I've had a lot of less-than-good foster parents," she said, desperately hoping Regina would let her stay. "A reformed evil queen isn't that bad." Regina laughed humourlessly.

"You'll change your mind when you finish that book," she said bitterly, draining the last of her hot chocolate.

"That might take a while," Ashley muttered, thinking of her abysmal performance on the school test.

"Tell her," Hero urged. Ashley glanced at her. "Or do you want to go to school tomorrow and get put into a class with kids three years younger than you?" Ashley shuddered and looked up at Regina.

"Regina?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" Regina said, raising an eyebrow. Ashley took a deep breath.

"It's about school," she began. Regina smiled kindly.

"I know you're worried about it, Ashley," she said, "but I think it's better to start you at school right away instead of dragging it out."

"I know, I know," Ashley agreed hastily, "that's not the problem. Well it kind of is, but..." She took another deep breath. "I'm not very clever." Regina frowned. "And I think I totally failed that test."

"Everyone worries about tests, Ashley, and they'll know that you didn't have time to prepare," she said dismissively.

"But I didn't know hardly anything on it," Ashley said, struggling to keep her voice level. "I didn't even finish it because it took me ages to read the questions and I didn't understand half of them and I hardly went to school last year and–" She abruptly cut herself off and took a deep breath, aware that she was babbling and that tears were threatening to spill down her cheeks.

She clenched her hands around the mug of hot chocolate and stared down at the carpet. Regina sighed. She stood up and perched on the arm of Ashley's chair. "I can see why you're worried," she said, softly, putting a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "But I'll talk to some of the teachers – maybe Snow wouldn't mind tutoring you. She used to be a teacher, you know, before the curse broke." Ashley nodded.

"I'll be here as well," Hero offered quietly. "And while I'm no whiz at school, I can help."

The fact that they'd worry about her, and care about her, nearly brought Ashley to tears. She wasn't used to this. Her foster families had never really listened when she told them her problems or her worries, and she had never been very good at making friends. Aware that they were both waiting for a reaction she took a shaky breath and looked up from the carpet.

"The curse broke?" she asked Regina. Regina smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Finish Henry's book," was her cryptic remark.


End file.
